I tend to love numbers: In high school and college, it was my GPA that needed tracked. Running FutureDerm, it’s all about traffic and engagement. (Write to me, people! 🙂 )
Yet the number that is most out of hand right now is my weight. As of this writing, I have gained 27 pounds in 2 years (see the photo on the left, above). Part of this is due to the fact I have a Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, a condition in which antibodies affect your thyroid, making your metabolism slow. Let me tell you, if you get Hashimoto’s, you get some really attractive symptoms, like dry hair, chronic sleepiness, and the ability to gain weight at the drop of a hat. Just beautiful. I’ve tried everything from the Pressed Juicery 5-day juice cleanse to NutriSystem for 21 days, losing about 10 pounds on each program, but gaining it back immediately afterwards.
But I’ve decided to make 2014 the year I turn that around. I am still a shade on the thin side of normal, but as vain as it sounds (putting the beauty in beauty blog, I guess), I really miss being little and thin and lithe. As one of my favorite Elle contributors, Amanda Fortini, wrote of being ultra-thin at one time: “I remember standing beneath the harsh fluorescent lights in the dressing room at Saks and thinking, Give me tight! Give me diaphanous! Give me sleeveless!” There’s something in our society about a substantial weight loss (20 pounds or more) that inspires attraction and admiration to a higher degree than a new lipstick, hair color or a push-up bra ever could. If you dare to resist the temptation of delicious carbohydrates and fats that run so rampant, there is in fact a great reward at the end of the tunnel. (If only Pavlov’s dog could be your constant companion.)
That said, I definitely do not want to inspire eating disorders of any kind. There is risk associated with significant weight loss. Other than the typical medical symptoms, like a higher susceptibility to bone breakage, weakened immune system, disrupted neurological function, and fine hair growing all over your body, there are dire symptoms for your skin as well. Yo-yo dieting is perhaps the most significant way to destroy the integrity of your collagen. Think of collagen like rubber bands, comprising a matrix that holds in your fat and subcutaneous tissue. Once you gain weight, that collagen is stretched. Lose weight too quickly, and your body doesn’t have enough time to signal for the next generation of collagen to be shorter, so your collagen bands are really big and loose for your newly-thinned face, resulting in saggy-looking skin hanging over your remaining fat and subcutaneous tissue. Gain the weight back again, and you’re looking at slightly-shorter collagen bands being stretched into oblivion. Lose the weight again, and you’ve got more sagging. Add into this the fact that your body is signaling growth factors to produce new skin cells every time you get bigger, and you’re looking at a lot of loose, saggy skin.
Diets affect your skin in other ways as well. Here, I detail 5 of the best and worst diets, and what science has to say about how each benefits or has detriments for your skin:
Atkins
Overall Rating: 2/10
Weight Loss Potential: 8/10
Maintenance Potential: 5/10
Skin Care Rating: 0/10
Currently, there is little research to support whether or not Atkins or other low-carbohydrate diets should be recommended for weight loss, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. When a systematic review of over 4000 patients who had undergone such a diet between 1966 and 2013 was conducted, the evidence was non-conclusive as to whether or not Atkins and other low-carbohydrate diets should be recommended for long-term weight loss.
However, in terms of taking the best care of your skin, Atkins is awful. According to a 2005 study, the collagen of patients who were put on the Atkins diet aged faster than the collagen of patients who were not on the diet. Why? You may have heard of Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGE). Ketosis (a necessary part of the Atkins diet) doubles the presence of a molecule (methylglyoxal) necessary for AGE product formation in the body. In essence, ketosis causes more glucosepane to form. In turn, glucosepane binds to your collagen, making it all yucky and brittle. It’s a large part of why your skin doesn’t have pliability and bounce back at 60 the same way it did when you were a teenager.
So if you want to have younger-looking collagen, avoid making your body go through ketosis. Carbohydrates in moderation are, apparently, wonderful!
The Beauty Detox Diet (Best Overall for Skin)
Overall Rating: 9/10
Weight Loss Potential: 8/10
Maintenance Potential: 8/10
Skin Care Rating: 10/10
On a regular basis, it seems that researchers are changing their minds on food. One day, coffee is the best for you due to antioxidants. The next, the headlines read the caffeine in it is killing you. Yet, if nutritional researchers can earnestly come to agreement on anything, it seems that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and moderate on fats, oils, dairy, and meats seems to be the best for your overall health and steady weight loss.
That’s exactly what Kimberly Snyder has created with her Beauty Detox Solution. It’s not a calorie-counting program, but a thought-provoking lifestyle-changing program. That sounds hokey, so I’ll explain. Basically, Kimberly’s arguments are three-fold: one, we tend to have more willpower early in the day; two, we need to eat more fruits and vegetables; three, we put far too much emphasis on protein and dairy in the US. With Kimberly’s program, you essentially start off the day with a green juice and optional light oatmeal, have a dairy- and protein-free salad for lunch, and virtually whatever you want for dinner. She does recommend having a light salad before dinner, but that is optional with the program.
This program is also great for acne. Eating foods with a low glycemic index, like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains has been found to have a profound effect on reducing acne in terms of both frequency of breakouts and their severity. In one particularly poignant study, people placed on a low glycemic index for 12 weeks experienced dramatic clearing of the skin – and lost three pounds on average (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2007).
I did this for two weeks in September, lost 12 pounds, and loved it. I found it to be great for my energy, and my skin glowed as a result of having all of the additional nutrients from the fruits and vegetables. (Keep in mind that a 2007 study found that nutrition does, in fact, make a significant difference on the firmness and brightness of the skin). I ended up gaining most of the weight back over the next 3 months, when I switched back from green juice to bagels for breakfast and from dairy-free salads to Pad Thai or General Tso’s Chicken at lunch (terrible, I know. But so convenient, it’s $8 at a local cafe!)
But I digress. I’m back on this one now, actually. I’ll let you know how it goes this time around. I’m already excited — it’s day two, and I already felt light and energetic enough to go to the gym!
Vegan Diet
Overall Rating: 8/10
Weight Loss Potential: 5/10
Maintenance Potential: 5/10
Skin Care Rating: 8/10
In general, vegetarians and vegans tend to be thinner than the rest of the population (The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2003). This is due in part to the fact that fruits, vegetables, and whole grains simply have a lower calorie density (calorie/ounce) than most meats and dairy products, so it takes less calories to fill the same volume of your stomach, leaving you feeling full. Another potential factor is that meats and dairy products contain trace amounts of growth factors and hormones, which may contribute to weight gain over time, though this suspicion has not been confirmed by a study or review in any respectable peer-reviewed journal, to the best of my knowledge.
However, it is debatable whether or not a vegan diet is best for your skin. On the one hand, cutting out dairy has been shown to have remarkable benefits, as there are trace amounts of a hormone, DHT (an androgen) in most of the milk, which increase oil production (Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2008). And by consuming fewer calories on average overall (The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2003), vegans are at a lower risk for those annoying weight fluctuations that can cause collagen to stretch faster, and hence skin to sag.
But on the other hand, fatty acids are essential for proper skin function. Omega-3 fatty acids in particular have been found to reduce the risk of skin cancer substantially when consumed on a regular basis (Cancer Prevention, 2006). And while vegan foods like flaxseed, olive oil, and grapeseed contain omega-3 fatty acids, the truth of the matter is, it’s a heck of a lot easier to get your dairy intake if you’re not vegan and getting your omega-3’s from fish and most meats.
In essence — Vegan is better-than-average for weight loss and your skin, but it is a rather difficult lifestyle modification for many people, and your skin may lose some radiance and luminosity from a lack of fatty acids and protein if you’re not careful.
Bottom Line
In terms of diets for 2014, I’m going with the moderate approach. Skin care science indicates that consuming lots of fruits and vegetables, cutting out dairy as much as possible, and maintaining a steady weight (or losing weight gradually) is the best for negating the effects of aging. On the other hand, going to extremes with carbohydrate-free and meat-free diets may have downright detrimental effects for the skin, such as hardened, brittle, non-pliable collagen with Atkins and dry, pale, non-vibrant skin with a vegan diet (if you’re not careful to get vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids, and protein from non-meat sources).
So I’m sticking to moderate plans like Beauty Detox Solution and Weight Watchers. What are your thoughts? Let me know in Comments below! I’ll also be sure to update you on how my diet is going, just in case you’d like to know. 🙂